Return of Bluffnut the Bloody
by VioletFlowersYZ
Summary: Bluffnut Cadence Thorston, long-lost daughter of the Thorston family, returns to reunite with her friends and family. Her half-siblings, Ruff and Tuff, welcomed her with open arms. What will happen to Berk when double trouble turn into triple? Story set one year before Race to the Edge, rated T for some violence and bloody scenes.
1. Chapter 1 - The Visitor

_**Hey! So this is my new fan fic. I am just soooo in love with the Thorston twins and I think they really don't get enough love due to the fact that they are side characters. Anyways I will not waste too much time talking. Let's get started!**_

~~~

"What's going on?"

"I don't know, but there seems to be a visitor."

At the port, dozens of Vikings were standing, looking and pointing at a ship that arrived earlier this morning, sharing what they knew with each other. Hiccup Haddock, son of the chief of Berk, jumped off from his Night Fury's back after they landed.

"A visitor, huh?" Astrid frowned, looking over at the ship.

"I heard about her, too," Fishlegs said quickly. "They say she's a pirate, but she is called the Blood-Drinking Queen. She killed every other pirate on that ship and drank their blood..." the large boy shuddered as he said it.

"Oh! That must've been nasty," Ruffnut made a disgusted face.

"Sounds awesome AND scary." Tuffnut, her twin brother, added. "I wonder what blood tastes like."

"Then what is she doing _here_? Are we next?" Snotlout's eyes went wide. Hiccup let out a groan.

"Come on, guys...what you've heard are rumours. And well, the worst ones of the rumours. Can't you be more positive about a visitor?"

"Well, a blood-drinking queen can't give you any positive thoughts," Fishlegs protested.

"She's only on her own and we have a whole island of Berkians and dragons, she won't stand a chance against us," Astrid snorted. "Hey, look - there she is."

They all looked. The visitor had already gotten off her ship and was now talking to Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's father and the chief of Berk. She was a tall and tough-looking girl with long, curly brown hair down her shoulders and back, wearing a helmet that looked somewhat like Tuffnut's except it had six horns. The teenagers exchanged glances, then they all went over, leaving the dragons waiting.

"Thank you very much, Chief." The girl smiled widely, shaking hands with Stoick. She had a clear, high-pitched voice. "I'll deal with the ship tomorrow."

"You're very welcome, lass," Stoick nodded, catching sight of his son and the others. "Oh, meet Hiccup, my son. I think you are about the same age."

The girl's eyes shifted to the boy and his friends. Her eyes were a dark, deep brown, close to black. She smiled sweetly, the freckles on her cheeks were rather noticeable. Hiccup and the others smiled back.

"I'll leave you guys here since I'm still quite busy." Said Stoick, starting to leave. "Hiccup, you can take her to the Great Hall at noon. Before that just hang around on Berk."

"Sure thing, Dad," Hiccup replied before he turned back to the girl. "So...um...what's your name?"

"Cadence," the girl told him. "Or, Blood-Drinking Queen, as I heard some people saying." She grinned, a grin that looked strangely familiar to the chief's son.

"Oh, don't take it personally, they don't mean it in a rude way," said Hiccup quickly. "They are my friends, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs..."

They each gave her a nod or smile when their names were mentioned. Hiccup continued, "...and the Thorston twins - "

"THE CRAZY _NUTS_!" Ruff and Tuff interrupted, laughing. "And you know, I always want to try drinking blood!" Tuff added. Astrid gave them a disapproving look.

" - Ruffnut and Tuffnut," Hiccup finished with a sigh.

"Nuts! I like that," said Cadence, chuckling, her gaze staying on the twins for a moment before turning back to Hiccup. "So...I heard that you guys train dragons. Am I right?"

"Oh, yes, there are dragons everywhere on Berk," Fishlegs said delightfully, "we can show you our dragons now if you are interested."

"Cool! What do you do with your dragons then?"

"We defend Berk!" said Astrid.

"We study!" said Fishlegs.

"Aaand, WE BLOW THINGS UP AND CAUSE TROUBLE!" Ruffnut sang, giggling, head-butting her brother.

"You two better behave around our visitor here," Snotlout huffed, elbowing the twin that, he thought, was Tuff, but unfortunate for him it turned out to be Ruff. The girl twin frowned and swung her fist, hitting the boy right in the face, and earning a curse from him.

"Oh, that looks painful," said Cadence, and to everyone's surprise she was grinning. "And blowing things up? I like that idea."

"Wow..." The twins were stunned with awe, blinking at the brunette with their mouths open.

"Alrightie, then. Shall we do a tour around the island?" Cadence turned back to Hiccup.

"Uh - yes, certainly," Hiccup said awkwardly. "Come with us now, you can ride one of our dragons - "

"Can I ride with the twins?" asked Cadence, her grin widened, now looking so much like Ruffnut and Tuffnut's when they had an "awesome" idea. Hiccup was taken aback for a second, but he quickly nodded, "Yes, yes, whatever you like!"

As the twins happily welcomed Cadence to join them, Astrid whispered to Hiccup, "Why do I feel like I've seen her before...?"

"You feel? You _have_ seen Ruffnut and Tuffnut a million times." Hiccup replied, glancing over at the twins' Zippleback worriedly before hopping on Toothless.


	2. Chapter 2 - Carved on her Helmet

"Look at that! That's our Great Hall. Cool, huh?" Tuffnut was pointing at the largest building on Berk, telling Cadence proudly. The girl smiled.

"Indeed," she agreed. "It looks big enough to fit every single Viking here."

"And every dragon, too!" Ruffnut reminded her, grinning.

"And every dragon too," Cadence added.

"Well, if the Great Hall is cool, you've got to see our training arena." Astrid flew closer to the Zippleback.

"She's right! The arena is truly amazing," Fishlegs agreed delightfully, "it's definitely my favourite place to be other than home!"

Cadence chuckled softly. "I suppose you are right. Shall we go see it now, then?"

"We shall!" The twins chorused as they turned their dragons to the direction of the arena. Astrid smirked amusedly and pulled Stormfly back to say to Hiccup, "They seem like the same kind of people."

"Yep. Double trouble is about to turn to triple," the boy joked. "Well, maybe it's a good thing, at least there is no blood-drinking pirate queen or something..."

The group entered the arena. Cadence looked around, looking totally amazed. "Wow!" she exclaimed, "this is one awesome place!"

"Yes, it is," Snotlout crossed his arms, looking pleased. "Everything is pretty awesome on Berk, huh?"

"Can't disagree on that." Cadence nodded. "What do you guys do here? Other than studying dragons?"

"Training." Hiccup told her. "We train in combat, agility and - "

"DESTROYING STUFF," the twins interrupted, earning a grunt of annoyance from the chief's son.

"Will you two stop goofing around?" Astrid throw them a warning look as if saying, " _before I can chop of both your heads with my axe_?"

The new girl, though, didn't seem to mind the two Thorston kids. Instead she smiled and said, "Sounds fun to me. I haven't been in an one-on-one combat in a long time, mind if I challenge you?" She winked at Astrid, surprising the blond slightly, but it only took her a few seconds to nod and accept the challenge.

"Sure," Astrid grinned, "what weapon do you prefer?"

"Make it a spear!"

Tuffnut, already having dragged the weapon cart out, snatched a spear and tossed it to the brunette. She caught it expertly, turned back to face Astrid.

"Bring it on!" the blond demanded and launched at Cadence, and they started to fight. The rest of the gang gathered around them and watched. Both girls were skilled in fighting, and both were moving at a seemingly invincible speed, striking and dodging at the same time. The spear and the axe clashed again and again. Astrid was truly admiring Cadence's fighting skills, for she herself was known as the best female warrior of her age group on Berk, and yet she seemed to be unable to take this girl down. Furthermore, Cadence didn't show a single sign of exhaustion!

Cadence's attacks were getting faster and faster. Astrid panted, backing up step after step, until finally her back was against the wall. Cadence made one final swing of her spear, stopping as it was inches away from Astrid's throat. She jumped aside, wiping away the sweat from her forehead, smiling as the other Berkians cheered for her.

"Wow, nice moves!" Astrid praised, shaking hands with the brunette. "I've never seen anyone using a spear as good as you."

Cadence grinned. "Well, thanks. Spear is probably the only weapon I'm good at using...I'd totally fail when it comes to axes and swords," she shrugged, taking off her helmet and tossed it aside. "Oh, I'm sweating like an waterfall!"

"Drink some water," said Hiccup, passing her and Astrid each a cup of cold water, "it helps you cool down."

"Oh...thanks!" Cadence took the cup and drank all of its content in one go. Astrid smiled before doing the same.

"Hey, this helmet is pretty cool!" exclaimed Tuffnut from the other side of the arena. He had picked the metal headwear up by one of its six horns, and was now turning it this way and that, examining it closely. Snotlout snatched it from him, flipping it over, and looked at the inside of it.

"There's something carved in there," the muscular boy said. Cadence froze for a second, then her head snapped to look at him.

"What does it say?" Asked Fishlegs curiously.

"Let me see...it's pretty hard to read because of the scratches and stuff." Snotlout held it closer. "Um, I think it says, 'Bloodblade Thorston' - "

"Give it back!" Cadence suddenly bursted, taking the helmet from the boy's hands rather impolitely and put it back on. "Do you know what I call someone who touches people's stuff without permission?"

Hiccup didn't quite hear what Cadence said, for his mind was caught by the two words Snotlout read out. _Thorston_?

"Hey, that's _our_ family name!" Ruffnut cried in delight. "What is it doing there on your helmet?"

"Oh, I don't know. Probably it used to belong to some Thorston Viking." Cadence shrugged it off.

"Bloodblade, what a cool name!" Tuffnut rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Cadence, how did you get that helmet?" Hiccup suddenly asked. All eyes looked to Cadence. The girl rolled her eyes, "Oh, who knows! I don't even remember."

"Obviously it's from someone in the Thorston family," said Fishlegs. "Ruff, Tuff - do you know anyone named Bloodblade?"

The twins exchanged looks.

"Nope," said Ruffnut.

"Their family can't be the _only_ one named Thorston," Cadence smirked. Hiccup noticed that she was looking away in the distance as though trying to avoid eye contact. "Maybe I got it from one of the piles of trash on my ship."

"She's got a point," Astrid shrugged.

Hiccup wasn't listening, instead he kept his gaze on the six-horned helmet. Why did Cadence look so nervous?

"W-well," said Cadence, "anything else you wanna show me before noon?"

"Why not go to the library?" suggested Fishlegs. "We have tons of good books there."

"Reading isn't my thing really, but I like that idea." Cadence grinned.

As they made their way to the library, Hiccup found himself unable to get "Bloodblade Thorston" out of his head.


	3. Chapter 3 - Who is Cadence

"Dad, do you know someone named Bloodblade Thorston?"

After lunch in the Great Hall, while everyone else was commenting on one of the books from the library, Hiccup pulled his dad over to the corner. The chief's brows creased at his question.

"Why ask about it?"

"Uh, I've just...heard of it," said the boy, not sure whether or not to tell the truth yet.

"Who did you hear it from?"

"Uh, um...the twins."

The chief paused for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh, "So they must have found out."

"Found out what?" Hiccup asked curiously.

"That they had a missing sister..." said the chief, more like murmuring to himself.

" _They had a what?!"_ Hiccup couldn't believe what his father just said. He stared at him, eyes wide. Ruffnut and Tuffnut...had another sister?

"It's better if you don't know." Stoick glanced at his son. "For the love of Odin...how did those two muttonheads have the brains to find out?"

Hiccup stood stunned as Stoick walked out of the Great Hall, frowning in thoughts.

"Hiccup, what's happening there?" Astrid called from the table. The boy returned to her, shaking his head.

Later in the afternoon, while Stoick, Gobber, and the other three teens helped cleaning up an empty house for Cadence to live in, Hiccup found an excuse to drag the twins away from the group.

"So um..." the chief's son cleared his throat, "have you ever heard anyone mention that your parents had a child before you two?"

The twins turned to each other and blinked. "Of course they did. See how many years they're older than us!" said Tuffnut.

"Uh...what I mean is...ugh okay," Hiccup face-palmed. "I asked my dad about this Bloodblade person, and apparently he knows about it."

"Oh, okay, and how's that _our_ business?" Ruffnut crossed her arms.

"Of course it is," Hiccup told her. "He said something like you have a missing sister - "

"Well, from what _I_ know, she's right beside me," both twin said at once, then Tuffnut, realizing what Ruff had just referred him to, punched her hard on the shoulder.

"...guys, _please_ , I'm being serious." Hiccup groaned, almost ready to give up. "What I mean is, your parents may have given birth to a child before _you_ were born. Get it?"

The twins exchanged confused looks.

"We don't know what you are talking about, Hiccup," Ruffnut shrugged. "Like, seriously no idea. But why?"

Hiccup felt relief, seeing the twins were finally getting serious. Well, Ruffnut was, at least. He spent the next few minutes explaining the conversation between him and his father, and all the thoughts he had in his head.

"So, since the name is carved in her helmet, you suspect that Cadence is our sister?" Ruffnut's eyes were just as wide as Hiccup's after talking to Stoick. "B-but..."

"No way, there has to be a mistake somewhere," said Tuffnut. "She looks nothing like _anyone_ from our family. And if she really is our sister, why didn't mom or dad tell us about her?"

"We don't have enough evidence." Hiccup said thoughtfully. "All we know now is that name carved in her helmet." His voice drifted off as he was filled with thoughts.

"What are you thinking?" asked Tuffnut.

"Probably something stupid..." Hiccup replied, looking over at the port, which was not quite far from where they were standing. Cadence's shop was still there.

"I don't what it is, but I have a feeling I'm gonna like it," the sister snickered.

Night had fallen on Berk. Blurred by the darkness, the shadows of three Viking teens could be seen, moving quickly with agility, heading for the port where there was a ship that only arrived that morning.

"This is awesome!" Ruffnut exclaimed excitedly.

"This is by far your best plan ever." Tuffnut said to Hiccup. The chief's son rolled his eyes.

"Come on guys, let's see what we can find."

The three Berkians got onto the ship and started looking around. It was mostly empty, until they reached the bottom compartment, where there was a cage.

"Oh my - " Ruffnut gasped, grabbing her brother's arm.

In the cage, there was a dragon - a Seashocker to be exact. It was a full-grown, sleeping soundly in a tub filled with water. On one of its head there was some bandage.

"A Seashocker!" Hiccup said in disbelief. "Cadence has a dragon on her ship! How did she manage to get one?" They all knew that Seashockers was one of the rare species that used electricity as weapon, they were ocean-dwelling dragons and are very dangerous. It must've taken some real skills to get one of those on her ship.

"Can we get out of here before it wakes up?" Tuffnut asked quietly, already backing for the stairs.

"Yes - " Hiccup didn't get to finish what he was saying, for just as he turned, he crashed into a table, and something fell down, hitting the floor with a clear sound. The three teens froze in place, eyes wide with horror, waiting for the Seashocker to wake up in silence.

But it didn't. It was so deep in its sleep. Hiccup's heart pounded fast as he bent down to pick up the object.

"...it looks like a painting on a piece of rock," the boy whispered, squinting to see it more clearly.

"Can I see it?" asked Ruffnut. Hiccup nodded and handed the painting to the twin girl. "Hey...that's our dad on there."

"Really?" Tuffnut said curiously, pressing his face close to the painting. "Oh, yeah, but wait - that's not our mom."

Hiccup joined the twins examining it. There was three people in the painting. The man was sure enough to be the twins' father, whom Hiccup had seen a few times. The lady beside him, though, was definitely not their mother, for one thing: she looked nothing like them, with messy and curly brown hair and a delicate face that had absolutely no similarities with Ruff and Tuff's. In her arms there was a child, a baby, who was giggling and playing with a spear head.

"And that's not one of us, either," said Ruffnut, pointing at the baby.

"That has to be Cadence, then - I mean Bloodblade!" Hiccup exclaimed in realization. "The lady has to be her mother. Ahh, now I get it! Your father must have married someone else before your mother! Then she probably went missing or passed away, or something...and then he married your mother and had you two!"

"You're quite a smart Viking, Hiccup." A cold voice cut through the air, making all three Berkians jump. Slowly turning, they saw that entered the compartment was a brunette with a spear. "Even though you did not get _everything_ right."

Cadence paused for a second, her gaze staying on the twins for a bit before she looked back at Hiccup.

"Now I guess it's time to get rid of you."


	4. Chapter 4 - Sibling Rivalry

"Wait, did she say...get _rid_ of us?" Ruffnut whispered in Tuffnut's ear. They could hear each other's hearts pounding.

"I didn't expect you to find out this quickly, I didn't," Cadence was coming closer. "But since you did...ugh, what a silly mistake I made." Her spear was at ready, pointed straight at the boy. "Alas...what should I tell your father about your death? That you got eaten by your dragon? That you slipped into the ocean and got ripped apart by angry sharks? Ouch, that must hurt...but probably not as much as the way you're truly going to end up..."

Chills crept up Hiccup's spine as he and the twins backed into a wall.

"...as for you two..." Cadence now pointed her spear at Ruffnut. The girl gulped, her back pressing against the wall behind her. "Yeah, probably I'll save some of your blood to drink. I like the taste of blood after all." She smiled evilly, staring at the twin in the eye.

"You will _not!"_ Hiccup suddenly bellowed, drawing his sword and shoving the brunette away at once. Tuffnut quickly pulled his sister toward himself. "Bloodblade - you're Bloodblade, right? They're your siblings! You will _never_ do something like that!"

Cadence clenched her jaw. "Well, maybe I will. But after I'm done with you."

Without warning, she leapt at the chief's son, her spear coming right at his chest. The boy met her bravely with his blade. "Run! Go get help!" he shouted at his friends.

"But, Hiccup - " Ruffnut began, but her brother grabbed her arm and pulled, shoving her towards the stairs.

"I'm staying here, you go," said Tuffnut. "We can buy you time."

Ruffnut held back her protests as her brother launched forward and joined the fight with his sword. _That's right..._ she told herself, _one of us has to get help and quick. I have to get back here before Cadence - or Bloodblade or whoever she is - kills my idiot brother or Hiccup!_

With one last glance, the girl ran off at top speed. Cadence caught everything in the corner of her eyes and she smirked. Get help? Probably not so easy.

"Bloodblade, listen to me!" Hiccup shouted at the girl as he blocked another one of her strikes. "We don't know why you didn't want us to know your identity...but there's absolutely no reason for you to try to kill your own siblings, even if they are only half-related to you! What is wrong with you? What made you so vicious?!"

"First off, my name is _not_ Bloodblade. And secondly, it is none of your business who the blood-drinking queen wants to kill." Cadence looked so calm despite being in a two-against-one fight. "You think you know me, huh? Guess what, you don't. And you never will, for soon I'll be drinking blood from your skulls!"

"I bet you won't!" To Hiccup's surprise, Tuffnut spoke, while swinging his sword all over the place. "You're my sister, and I will not let myself be killed by my own sister. That's just lame, I mean...I won't let Ruff kill me either."

"Oh, maybe you will!" Cadence let out a shrill laugh. "But it's okay, Tuff - I'll kill your dear twin right after I kill you! But first, let me deal with your little friend here..."

Hiccup, who was about to make a downward strike from the girl's back, was totally unprepared as she turned sharply, her spear stabbing directly at his chest. The boy gasped, ready for the end to come, for the weapon to impale his body -

" _OW! I AM HURT, I AM VERY MUCH HURT!"_ Hiccup stared in shock as Tuffnut went crashing to the ground, one hand clasping the wound in his left shoulder. Tuffnut was the last person he would expect to block a deadly strike for him.

"Tuffnut, no!" Hiccup cried out, dropping to his knees beside his friend. The twin was whining loudly as the blood gushed from his shoulder, staining his clothes crimson.

"Oh, cool, you volunteered." Cadence sneered. "Well Hiccup, you're next."

"How could you?" Hiccup snarled. "How could you do something like that to your brother?"

" _He_ jumped in my way!" Cadence snorted.

"You heartless cow," the boy clenched his hands into fists.

"Why, thank you," Cadence said shamelessly. "Now, if I remember correctly, I should have something else to do other than dealing with you...ahh, it's little Ruff!" she chuckled, faking an innocent tone. "What will you do, Hiccup? Come after me, or get your friend to his aid before he dies?"

Laughing, the girl walked up the stairs without looking back.

"Tuffnut!" Hiccup bent down to help the blonde boy sit up. The twin coughed as he was being moved.

"Ugh," he muttered, " I see stars."

"Tuff, hang on...what should I do?" the chief's son said anxiously, never had he felt so helpless before. As he looked around, his gaze dropped on the Seashocker - the fight somehow didn't wake it.

"Okay, looks like that's the only way possible to get both of them safe now..."

Ruffnut ran as quickly as she could. Having gotten so used to riding her dragon, her running skills had decreased. Panting with exhaust, she kept herself running. _You can make this...faster, faster, faster..._

 _Slash._ Ruffnut cried out in pain as blade cut into her calf. Her right leg lost its strength for a moment and she stumbled, falling face-first on the ground. Whimpering, she pulled the object out of her muscle, and found out it was a beautifully-designed throwing knife, stained with her blood. She couldn't help being impressed by the fact it was aimed so perfectly in the darkness of the night. Dread filled her as she heard footsteps behind her. The boys had failed to stop her, Cadence had caught up, she couldn't even bear to imagine what happened to her brother and her friend. She jumped to her feet, trying to start running again.

"Give it up." Her action was interrupted by a cold voice. Shaking, she turned around, meeting the brunette's eyes. Cadence approached her, her spear pointed at her throat. The tip of the spear head touched her skin. She squeaked with fear.

"Any last words?" Cadence grinned meanly, pressing the spear closer. Ruffnut didn't even dare breathing now, nor did she know what to say - but somehow she managed to nod.

"Say it?" Cadence's brows raised, and her head tilted to one side, like a curious child.

"A-a-are you..." the twin breathed, "are you really...o-our sister...?"

As if the words had some kind of powers, Cadence froze. Her eyes went wide, reflecting the twin in her brown iris. Her lips parted but no sound came out. Silently she cursed, not getting why that, just a single question, could give her this weird feeling of...what was it? Something she hadn't felt in years.

"I-if yes," Ruffnut continued, still standing where she was, "why didn't you tell us? I've always wanted a sister, you know...why are you doing this to us?"

"I, I - " Cadence uttered, struggling to come up with a solid reason, but something inside her just wouldn't let her. She gritted her teeth and pressed the spear deeper into the blonde's throat, ready to finish her before she said another -

"... _I hate you."_

Cadence almost wailed, murderousness seemed to have drained from her at the sound of those three words. She finally lowered her spear, allowing Ruffnut to take a step away from her, their eyes still staring into each other's.

"And you know why?" Ruffnut's voice was stronger this time. "Because you're a traitor to our Thorston family!" Her fists clenched by her side, and her eyes were filled with rage. "I could have liked you as a sister, Bloodblade! Not anymore!"

" _Shut up!"_ The brunette screamed, throwing her spear heavily on the ground, startling the twin and making her jump back another step. "You understand _nothing,_ you idiot! You don't know what I've been through all these years, you don't know how they treated me!"

"They?" Ruffnut repeated quietly. "Who are they?"

"People who took me away from Berk!" Cadence was yelling at the top of her lungs now. "And before that - your mother, Ruffnut! _Your_ mother!"

"W-what did she do to you?"

"Oh, go ask her!" Cadence let out a bitter laugh. "Who treated me like I was a wasted creature that shouldn't have existed at all? Who told me that a child without her birth mother was completely worthless? And who - " she leaned into Ruffnut's face, " - was the one that left me all by myself in the empty house when the pirates came fifteen years ago, to protect her precious pair of lovely children? Go ahead and ask your dear mommy, Ruffnut! Why not do it and find out?"

Her voice cracked, and she turned away, breathing deeply to cease her rage. When she spoke again her tone had returned to its usual calm.

"And you now think I'm going to just let you tell everyone that I returned, so she can spend more time shaming me, huh? Only because I'm just her stepdaughter, and stepdaughters are worthless."

Ruffnut stood still where she was, completely stunned by the other girl's sudden outburst. There was an awkward silence before she spoke.

"Well..." she said nervously, "no one ever mentioned anything about it to us, how should we know? Why couldn't you tell us at the beginning, instead of letting us think you're a blood-drinking queen or something...?"

More silence. Then the brunette let out a sigh.

"Never mind, Ruff." she said in a low voice as she began to walk away. "You're right...I can't blame you. I'm sorry, just...forget everything I said, and this never happened."

All Ruffnut could do as her half-sister walked away was stare at her back figure.


	5. Chapter 5 - Unlock the Memories

"Ruffnut! Are you alright?" Ruffnut looked up as someone called out her name. It was Hiccup, flying over to her on the Seashocker they had found on Cadence's ship. She wasn't surprised - for she knew that Hiccup was always good at training dragons. She only tensed up as the dragon landed, and she saw her bloodied brother.

"Oh my - what happened to him?" the girl gasped, grabbing Tuff's hand. The male twin was semi-conscious, muttering something about drinking blood.

"Got stabbed," said Hiccup shortly. Then he spotted the spear Cadence had left behind. "Good gods...she's already been here?"

"Indeed," Ruffnut sighed, "but she left..."

Hiccup took a quick look at the sister, relieved to see she was unharmed. "She just left? Without doing anything?"

"Well, she did yell a lot of stuff...but hey, can we talk about this after? Not that I care, but this idiot here seems like he might die." Ruffnut said, eyes locked on Tuffnut's wound.

"Oh, right!" Hiccup moved to give the girl some space. "Get on."

The Seashocker they were riding was flying at a relatively slow speed. Probably because it was tired or because of its injury, but Hiccup was quite glad there was a dragon there, for he wouldn't know what to do at all. It didn't take them any more than a few minutes to get to the elder's household. Though Gothi was unhappy to be woken in the middle of her sleep, she immediately got to the twin's aid.

"I'll fly the dragon back to the ship," said Hiccup after Tuffnut was settled. "Ruff, are you going to stay here with Tuff, or do you want to go home?"

"Hiccup, I..." Ruffnut hesitated before telling him, "...I want to go find... _her._ I mean, she's my sister, right? It looks like I should."

The chief's son looked at her, biting his lip. Finally he nodded. "You're right. I'll get you there...Gothi will have Tuff staying here for the night, you can just go home after doing whatever you are gonna do."

Ruffnut silently nodded.

As Cadence stopped walking, she realized she had walked for quite a long time, and now had no clue where she was in the dark. With a curse she flopped down on her back, staring at the stars in the peaceful sky.

 _What's wrong with me?_ she wondered, _I thought I was looking forward to this visit...am I truly a blood-drinking pirate after all?_

Images of her own past floated up in her head. The fun times, the kidnapping, the pirates, the revenge. Didn't she used to be a Berkian, just like everyone else here? Wasn't she supposed to feel at home? Well, probably not...

"She's right there." She heard a gentle male voice. No need to guess, it was definitely the chief's bossy son who just couldn't live without getting his nose stuck in people's business. "Be careful, Ruffnut."

"No worries," said another voice, a rough female one. Then she heard footsteps and the sound of a dragon flopping his wings.

"What are you here for, Ruffnut?" Cadence asked loudly without getting up or even bothering to look at her. "You should be moaning beside your brother right now."

Ruffnut laughed nervously, "Hah...do I look like I'd cry for _him_? Plus, you didn't even kill him."

"I did aim to," Cadence snorted, sitting up this time with her back facing the twin, "and I could have."

"But you wouldn't," said Ruffnut.

The brunette's eyes widened, slightly surprised. She spoke after a few seconds of silence. "Well...why would you say that?"

"Because you're a Thorston," said Ruffnut, carefully coming closer. "And no one in our family kills our own family members. We might treat each other terribly - for fun - but we never cross the line. Aren't I right?"

"You're so annoying..." Cadence felt her cheeks heating up. Ruffnut smiled, feeling it was safe now, and came over and sat beside her.

"I'm _always_ annoying. Anyone who knows me would know that."

As though her heart was being squeezed gently by a warm hand, the brunette let out a chuckle. She quickly concealed it with a cough.

"Bloodblade...can you tell me what happened to you? For so many years?"

Cadence seemed to be taken aback for a moment, but eventually she nodded. Ruffnut felt warmth as she started talking, proud that she was dimmed trustworthy to be the first one to share Cadence's story.

"Well, first of all, I have to correct you, Ruff," said the brunette slowly. "My name is not Bloodblade. That is probably the only thing you got wrong."

Ruffnut sat quietly and listened, eager to understand her past. Cadence paused, then spoke again.

"I was born a bit more than a year before you and Tuff. My mother, however, died in a battle not long after that... What happened exactly, I am not sure. All I know is that my father, _our_ father, married another lady - who turned out to be _your_ mother.

"I was very little back then, but I somehow remember so clearly... I just went into the room, and saw two little creatures on the bed. Two babies, two heads, both wrapped in blankets. You were sleeping so peacefully. It's a vivid memory.

"I remember some times when we had fun together. But the new mom wasn't very nice to me. Whenever you cried, she'd yell at me. She always gave me the least food and the worst clothes. She wouldn't listen to anything our dad said, either.

"Then, _it_ happened." She stopped, her head lowered and she stared at the ground. Ruffnut thought she was supposed to say something, but was afraid that she'd say it wrong, so she kept her mouth shut tightly during the awkward silence. It was a good few minutes before Cadence spoke again.

"They came. The pirates. They took so many ladies away, and some children too. To protect us, our father told your mother to take all of us and go to our hiding place, an abandoned house. But we were spotted, and they came for us. Your mother..." she was now sitting up straight and her eyes were shining with blame, "she took you two and escaped. She left me in the house alone, and the pirates took me away. I remember she said to me to wait for our father there...how stupid of me, not knowing it was an obvious lie."

Ruffnut felt as though her heart was being squeezed by a forceful hand. She wasn't ready at all to believe that her own mother could have done something so cruel, so unfair, only because the child that got left behind was just her stepdaughter. But - the twin couldn't work this out in her simple brain - why did that matter? Stoick wouldn't leave a child behind because he wasn't his son. Gobber didn't have a single child, but he was always way ahead of the others when it came to protecting the kids. Gothi was always there for them when someone got hurt, and didn't just leave them to die because she wasn't their mother. So why did her own mother do that?

"…I'm sorry…I didn't really mean to remind you of it, you know…" Ruffnut managed to say quietly. "I-I didn't know - "

"Ruffnut, can you promise that you won't tell anyone what I told you today?" Cadence suddenly turned to her and looked directly in her eyes. "Please?"

"Okay, but why?"

"Would you want everyone to know if it were you?"

The twin thought for a moment before replying, "No."

"Then I guess you won't tell?"

Ruffnut smiled, gently taking her hand. "No, sister, I will not."

"Not even your - our - brother?"

"Especially not our brother."

They both chuckled. Then, after a long pause, the brunette said quietly, "My true name is Bluffnut. Bluffnut Thorston."


	6. Chapter 6 - Our Big Sister

"How's your shoulder?" Ruffnut asked as she sat down beside her brother in the next morning. Tuff snorted.

"You really think I could die from a little wound like this?"

The sister blushed slightly, looking away. "Uh, duh! I thought you were aware that you are a total weakling - ow!" she stared at him, rubbing her shoulder where he had landed a painful punch.

"How's that!" Tuffnut smirked. "Anyways, what happened to you last night? Where is Cadence?"

"Nothing really happened. She admitted that she's our sister and said her name is Bluffnut Thorston, and she apologized for hurting you, that's all." Ruffnut shrugged, remembering the promise she made. "Then I just went home. With the Seashocker Hiccup trained or something."

"I thought Seashockers can only swim," Tuffnut said curiously.

"How did you know?"

"Because I once heard Fishlegs reading to himself, duh!" he answered casually. Ruffnut blinked. The boy laughed at her stupid expression, taking one of her long braids and started playing with it. "So now we should tell everyone about it, right? Introduce her to Snotlout and Astrid and Fishlegs - wait, first we should tell Mom and Dad, and then we can all reunite officially. Then what will we do? Maybe we can - "

"Woah...hang on a second...you're talking too fast," Ruffnut placed her hand on her forehead and pretended to swoon. "I don't know about telling our parents yet...she, um, didn't seem to want them to know."

"Oh. Well, whatever the sisters say," the boy joked. "I'm outnumbered now. Huh?"

"Haha!" the girl punched him playfully, laughing. Her twin punched her back, his grin exactly like hers. Only that hers lasted no longer than a few seconds. In her head she was still thinking about what Bluffnut told her the other night.

Tuff caught sight of his sister's grin fading.

"What's up?" He pulled her over to face him, and brushed some hair out of her face with his fingers. The girl sighed.

"It's nothing, just...thinking about Cadence...Bluffnut," Ruff said softly. "She was supposed to grow up with us. But we got separated...it's unfair." Ruffnut wasn't just saying that because Bluffnut told her not to tell anyone about her true story. She was indeed feeling sentimental - she would usually hate to feel this way, but darn it, feelings weren't something she could control.

Tuff's lips parted, but no sound came out. It wouldn't matter even if he tried to comfort her, for he himself was feeling the same way, especially after she had stabbed him with her spear. For a while they both just sat there, looking at the ground, deep in thoughts.

"Um...am I allowed to come in?" The voice made the twins jump. Poking her head into Gothi's door was a brunette, looking around with slight nervousness.

"Gothi's not home, I think you can," Ruffnut smiled at her, beckoning. The elder had gone to go through whatever she needed to do after checking on Tuffnut. Bluffnut Thorston walked over to join them, looking rather uncomfortable as her gaze stayed on the boy.

"...I'm sorry, Tuff," she said quietly. "I know you might still hate me for hurting your shoulder, and I won't blame you..." She trailed off.

"Hey, it's okay! Whatever my big sis does," Tuffnut gave her a wink. "I'd rather be killed by you than by Ruffnut anyway - " he glanced at his twin, grinning.

"What will we do now?" Ruffnut asked. "Are you planning on telling them today?"

"You mean Astrid and the others? I'm cool with that." Bluffnut nodded. "But don't tell anyone in our family." She quickly added as Tuff looked at her with confusion, "Cuz I want to give them a surprise later on, you see!"

"I like surprises!" Tuffnut grinned. "So uh, can we get out now? I can't wait to introduce you to Snotlout and - "

"They've already seen her, you muttonhead!" Ruffnut rolled her eyes. Bluffnut chuckled, making Ruff blush slightly, but Tuff didn't seem to care.

"So, Buffnut - I mean, Fluffnut - wait, what's your name again?" Tuffnut blinked, having forgotten the name Ruff told him earlier. The brunette chuckled again, "It's Bluffnut."

"Ooh...sorry," Tuffnut rubbed his head, smiling shamelessly. "So can we go and meet the others now? And you get to ride Barf and Belch again if you like!"

"I'd love to," Bluffnut grinned.

A while later, the teens were sitting at the table in the Great Hall, eating breakfast while chatting about what they learnt last night.

"Bluffnut Thorston? Seriously?" Snotlout's eyes were wide after the twins introduced their half-sister.

"Excuse me, what's that supposed to mean?" Ruffnut crossed her arms.

"Bluffnut," Hiccup chose to ignore his cousin, "well, if your name Bluffnut, who is Bloodblade? You didn't tell us yet."

"Bloodblade was my mother." Bluffnut said, grinning. "My helmet used to be hers. Got you confused?"

"That makes sense," Hiccup nodded awkwardly.

"S-so...the rumours were partly true?" Fishlegs said quietly, slightly nervous. "You actually _did_ kill everyone on your ship?"

Bluffnut smirked, unimpressed by the different looks on the teens' faces. "Why, I did!" she answered in a _what-else?_ tone. The Berkian teens exchanged looks of disbelief and slight shock. The twins almost grinned as they looked at each other, but both held it back for some reason. "I actually do deserve to be called the blood-drinking queen. I did taste their blood...but it was too nasty, so I didn't swallow it..."

"Well...wow," Astrid said a few seconds later, with a bit of reluctance. "It is really..."

"Scary." "Bloody." Fishlegs and Snotlout said at the same time.

"Kind of awesome too..." Tuffnut whispered in his twin's ear.

Astrid spoke again after a few seconds of silence. "Well, Hiccup said that you have a Seashocker in your ship. How's that?"

"I found that beast on a small island, right after I killed the other pirates," Bluffnut answered. "She was hurt, and I brought her into my ship."

"But I thought Seashockers aren't able to fly," Fishlegs asked. "How did Hiccup ride her?" Hearing that, Tuff turned to give Ruff an _I-told-you_ look.

Bluffnut shrugged. "She seems to be one of the rare Seashockers that can fly for a short period of time. I'm not planning on keeping her, though. She should go back to the ocean when her injuries are healed..."

"So you _don't_ have your own dragon," Snotlout concluded.

"Not yet," the brunette admitted. "But...I'm looking forward to getting one."

"What type of dragon do you like?" Ruffnut asked excitedly. "Tuffnut and I can get you one!"

"I'll see as it goes, kid sister!" Bluffnut laughed, knocking Ruff on the head playfully. "But today I'd want to enjoy Berk a big more. I've only been here for a day and so much happened..."

"True that." Hiccup joked. "What do you want to do today, then?"

"Astrid, get your axes ready!" Bluffnut stood up, brushing her curly hair behind her ears with a swift movement of her hand. She smiled confidently, quite different from the earlier grin of a typical Thorston. "Also whoever that wants a little combat!"

 ** _Sorry this took so long! It's a boring chapter... But I promise it'll get better and that I will update more often._**


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